Play Therapy to Reduce Anxiety in Children During Hospitalization: A Literature Review

Abstract

Hospitalization is a form of individual stressor for children, forcing them to adapt to the hospital environment. Adjusting to a new foreign environment such as a hospital can cause anxiety in children. One of the actions taken to overcome hospitalization anxiety is play therapy. The purpose of this study was to identify the types of play therapy used to reduce anxiety levels in children during hospitalization. This was a literature review and a total of 15 articles were found by searching through the Google Scholar, PubMed, and ProQuest databases. Skill play and dramatic role play, which are based on content, were the play therapies that were most widely used, found in 12 of 15 articles. Play therapies based on social characteristics included solitary play and associative play, which were found in 9 of 15 articles. Keywords: play therapy, anxiety, children, hospitalization